1
of
1
Countermobilization
Policy Feedback and Backlash in a Polarized Age
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still
learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Summary
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$6199
Unit price
/
Unavailable
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER
Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 3-4 weeks
Found a better price? Request a price match
Countermobilization
$6199
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This book is ideal for students and scholars of politics and public policy, policymakers, and anyone interested in understanding the dynamics of US political opposition and policy sustainability.
Latest News
The Book Briefing 21/10/2026
Welcome back to another edition of 'The Book Briefing', your weekly round-up of all the...
Story to Screen - 21/10/26
It's been another huge week in the world of book-to-screen adaptations! From record-breaking trailers and...
Things We Learned from an Evening with Alice Oseman
Liam and Lizzy went along to an evening with Alice Oseman of Heartstopper! Here are...
The Book Hero Team's Wins and Misses in Film and TV Adaptations
We all love arguing in a mostly good-natured way about which adaptations of our favourite...
Vanya Insull (aka VJ Cooks) visits Book Hero
We were lucky to have a visit from popular foodie, home cook and baker Vanya...
See more
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
An essential look at how and why backlash movements are inherent to US policymaking.
The most successful policies not only solve problems; they also build supportive coalitions. Yet, sometimes, policies trigger backlash and mobilise opposition. Although backlash is not a new phenomenon, today’s political landscape is distinguished by the frequency and pervasiveness of backlash in nearly every area of US policymaking, from abortion rights to the Affordable Care Act.
Eric M. Patashnik develops a policy-centred theory of backlash that illuminates how policies stimulate backlashes by imposing losses, overreaching, or challenging existing arrangements to which people are strongly attached. Drawing on case studies of issues from immigration and trade to healthcare and gun control, Countermobilization shows that backlash politics is fuelled by polarisation, cultural shifts, and negative feedback from the activist government itself. It also offers crucial insights to help identify and navigate backlash risks.
Series: Chicago Studies in American Politics
View all-
Divided Parties, Strong Leaders
Drawing on nearly a century of legislative history, this careful account invites readers to think anew about when, why, and how leaders of divided parties wield power in Congress. For decades, legislative scholars have viewed party divisions as critical constraints on congressional leadership. The more a party’s rank and file disagree with one another, the weaker their leaders are predicted...Paperback$6199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Legal Plunder
A searing, historically rich account of how US policing and punishment have been retrofitted over the last four decades to extract public and private revenues from America's poorest and most vulnerable communities. Alongside the rise of mass incarceration, a second profound and equally disturbing development has transpired. Since the 1980s, US policing and punishment have been remade into tools for...Paperback$9000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
The Money Signal
A data-rich, eye-opening look at how, when, and why political fundraising is consequential. Over the last two decades, the number of competitive congressional races has declined precipitously. Yet candidates and officeholders dial for more and more dollars each election, and they do so earlier and earlier in the campaign cycle. In The Money Signal, Danielle M. Thomsen offers a new...Paperback$6199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
A Tolerance for Inequality
A nuanced reassessment of US democratic responsiveness and public opinion on economic policy that explores the real reasons government does not do more to mitigate inequality. Many believe that the United States' growing economic inequality is the result of a political system that has been captured by wealthy elites. But is economic capture actually the problem? In A Tolerance for...Paperback$6199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Dynamic Democracy
Dynamic Democracy offers a new perspective on policy responsiveness in American government. Scholars of American politics have long been sceptical of ordinary citizens’ capacity to influence, let alone control, their governments. Drawing on over eight decades of state-level evidence on public opinion, elections, and policymaking, Devin Caughey and Christopher Warshaw pose a powerful challenge to this pessimistic view. Their research...Paperback$6499Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
False Front
A provocative new perspective on presidential power. Border walls, school bathrooms, student loans, gun control, diversity, abortion, climate change—today, nothing seems out of reach for the president's pen. But after all the press releases, ceremonies, and speeches, shockingly little gets done. The American presidency promises to solve America's problems, but presidents' unilateral solutions are often weak, even empty. Kenneth Lowande...Paperback$5699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
America’s New Racial Battle Lines
A sobering portrait of the United States' divided racial politics. For nearly two decades, Rogers M. Smith and Desmond King have charted the shifting racial policy alliances that have shaped American politics across different eras. In America's New Racial Battle Lines, they show that US racial policy debates are undergoing fundamental change. Disputes over colourblind versus race-conscious policies have given...Paperback$5699Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Everyday Democracy
How the everyday habits and attitudes of ordinary liberals and conservatives shape the health of American democracy. In Everyday Democracy, Jeffrey M. Berry, James M. Glaser, and Deborah J. Schildkraut study Americans' views of several manifestations of "everyday democracy," which they define as the attitudes, behaviours, and processes that people experience in daily life and their routine considerations of politics...Paperback$11300Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 2-3 weeks -
Countermobilization
An essential look at how and why backlash movements are inherent to US policymaking. The most successful policies not only solve problems; they also build supportive coalitions. Yet, sometimes, policies trigger backlash and mobilise opposition. Although backlash is not a new phenomenon, today’s political landscape is distinguished by the frequency and pervasiveness of backlash in nearly every area of US...Paperback$6199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Our Common Bonds
A compelling exploration of concrete strategies to reduce partisan animosity by building on what Democrats and Republicans have in common. One of the defining features of twenty-first-century American politics is the rise of affective polarization: Americans increasingly not only disagree with those from the other party but distrust and dislike them as well. This has toxic downstream consequences for both...Paperback$6499Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Respect and Loathing in American Democracy
A deep examination of why respect is in short supply in politics today and why it matters. Respect is in trouble in the United States. Many Americans believe respecting others is a necessary virtue, yet many struggle to respect opposing partisans. Surprisingly, it is liberal citizens, who hold respect as central to their view of democratic equality, who often have...Paperback$4799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Moral Issues
A new perspective on how beliefs about abortion and gay rights reshaped American politics. Many believe that religious and partisan identities undergird American public opinion. However, when it comes to abortion and gay rights, the reverse may be closer to the truth. Drawing on wide-ranging evidence, Paul Goren and Christopher Chapp show that views on abortion and gay rights are...Paperback$6199Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
"Patashnik identifies the reasons for the increasing frequency and intensity of policy backlash, offering guidance for policymakers to sustain reforms." Choice
Paul Pierson, University of California, Berkeley: "A masterful analysis bringing overdue attention to the politics of backlash, valuable for both observers and practical policymakers."
"Leading policy analyst Eric Patashnik offers a penetrating theory of backlash politics, clarifying why organised interests rise against enacted policies."
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780226829890
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 26 December 2023
Country: United States
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Illustration: 25 line drawings, 19 tables
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 23.0mm
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 229.0mm
Weight: 426g
Pages: 256
About the Author
Eric M. Patashnik is professor of public policy and political science at Brown University. His books include Reforms at Risk: What Happens After Major Policy Changes Are Enacted.
Also by Eric M. Patashnik
View all-
Reforms at Risk
Reforms at Risk is the first book to closely examine what happens to sweeping and seemingly successful policy reforms after they are passed. Most books focus on the politics of reform adoption, yet as Eric Patashnik shows here, the political struggle does not end when major reforms become enacted. Why do certain highly praised policy reforms endure while others are...Paperback$7500Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
More from Politics & Current Affairs
View all-
In the Room
'Every Prime Minister needs someone who will challenge them - and that was you.' So said Jacinda Ardern to Andrew Campbell on his final day as her Chief Press Secretary. Now, for the first time, Campbell offers a revealing insider's account of one of New Zealand's most extraordinary political eras. Serving alongside Ardern for almost her entire time in office,...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
One Last Question, Prime Minister
From Muldoon to Luxon, untold stories from the House of Parliament Barry Soper has spent close to five decades questioning New Zealand's prime ministers.From the imposing, larger-than-life characters of Rob Muldoon and David Lange, to the golden age of Helen Clark and John Key, and the post-Covid era of Jacinda Ardern and the 'Chrises', Soper's insight and nose for a...Paperback$2800Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseFacing Up to Our Future
New Zealand's traditional “she'll be right” optimism is no longer adequate to the challenges facing the country. Facing Up to Our Future: Challenges and Choices for New Zealand brings together 21 of the country's leading thinkers to confront the long-term pressures shaping the nation's next decades. Edited by Emeritus Professor Peter Davis, the collection ranges widely, covering issues as diverse as...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Signed Copy13% offUncomfortable Economics
New Zealand once ranked among the world’s most prosperous nations. Not any longer. Why has our economic performance lagged behind countries we once outpaced? And what will it take to reverse the decline? In Uncomfortable Economics, David Schnauer shows that New Zealand’s underperformance is not inevitable. It is the result of choices — cultural and political — that can be...Paperback$3300Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Regime Change
From the two reporters who have covered him more closely than perhaps anyone else over the past decade comes this definitive portrait of Donald Trump in the White House and the first year of his second presidency. Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented reporting from deep within the administration’s most closely guarded rooms, Regime Change takes the reader into...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$4299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseA Different Kind of Power
#1 New Zealand bestseller #1 Amazon bestseller #2 Audible bestseller #3 New York Times bestseller #3 Sunday Times bestseller #4 Australian bestseller From the former prime minister of New Zealand, then the world’s youngest female head of government and just the second to give birth in office, comes a deeply personal memoir chronicling her extraordinary rise and offering inspiration to...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Ockham WinnerA Different Kind of Power
What if we could redefine leadership? What if kindness came first? Jacinda Ardern grew up the daughter of a police officer in small-town New Zealand, but as the 40th Prime Minister of her country, she commanded global respect for her empathetic leadership that put people first. This is the remarkable story of how a Mormon girl plagued by self-doubt made...Hardback$4799Elsewhere:$5999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
New ReleaseDirty Work
Twelve years after they were exposed and discredited in the book Dirty Politics, some of the most cynical people in New Zealand politics are back. The epitome is Jordan Williams, with his abysmal attitudes to women, morality-free fundraising as a lobbyist for the tobacco industry and – worst and most destructive in New Zealand’s recent history – him and his...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3499Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
Suicidal Empathy
The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad unleashes a blistering critique...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
23% off1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four
In the drab and oppressive world of 1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell introduces us to Winston Smith, a man haunted by the omnipresent surveillance and control exercised by the Party and its enigmatic leader, Big Brother. Winston works diligently at the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to alter historical records to fit the ever-changing narrative dictated by the...Paperback$1000Usually:$1299Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
22% offNew Release
Go Hard or Go Home
From the front bench to rock bottom: Go Hard or Go Home is Kiri Allan's fearless memoir of ambition, disruption and survival in NZ politics and beyond. Kiri Allan's six-year political career spanned some of the most challenging times in recent history. Events a government might encounter once in a generation stacked up: a terrorist attack, a volcanic eruption, destructive and deadly...Paperback$2500Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shameless, Brian Tyler Cohen explores how Republicans have abused power, how Democrats have refused to exercise power when they held it, and how progressives should wield power if they are fortunate enough to win a free and fair election in a post-Trump world. The Day After: How to Wield Power in...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
Politics & Current Affairs lists from the team
Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
Lizzy's listPolitics & Current Affairs
2026 Longlist for The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction
Celebrating the best of non-fiction writing, here are all 13 books on the longlist for 2026.View the list -
![]()
![Lucky You're Tough]()
![]()
Dylan's listPolitics & Current Affairs
Reading Before Voting
As we head towards New Zealand's general election on 7 November 2026, here are some books that explore many of the issues...View the list
